Istanbul court issues new arrest warrant for Gülen

A new arrest warrant has been issued for U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gülen in absentia and his aide Sinan Dursun for "attempting to stage a coup, establishing and masterminding an armed organization and political espionage” in Turkey.

Istanbul's High Penal Court no:13 issued the warrant Monday after the court approved the 1,453 page-long indictment submitted by the Istanbul Deputy Attorney General, Ismail Ucar.

This is the second arrest warrant issued for Gülen. Istanbul's High Penal Court no: 14 had issued another arrest warrant for the preacher for alleged "conspiracy, forgery of official documents and slander" on Oct. 2.

It was as part of a probe over a 2011 complaint filed by Mehmet Nuri Turan, founder of the Istanbul-based publishing house "Tahsiye", who had claimed that he was targeted by Gulen.

The indictment demanded an aggravated life imprisonment for 67 suspects, including Gülen, his aide Dursun, and former police chiefs, Yakup Saygili, Kazim Aksoy and Hamza Tosun, on charges of "attempting to topple a government of the Republic of Turkey or to prevent the government partially or completely from doing its duties by using force”.

It also sought prison terms of 37 years and six months or 52 years and six months for Gulen and Dursun on charges of "establishing and masterminding an armed terrorist organization and obtaining state information -- which needs to be kept secret for the security of the state and its domestic and foreign benefits -- to be used for political espionage”.

Judges also wanted a letter to be sent to Ministry of Justice so that a red notice could be issued by Interpol that could lead to extradition of Gulen and Dursun by U.S. judicial authorities.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his son Bilal Erdoğan and his son-in-law Berat Albayrak, together with Turkey's intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdoğan were mentioned in the indictment as complainants, while Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and some ministers were cited as "sufferers" of the incident.

The first hearings in the case will be held in January 2016.